These cozy, rustic rye cookies are loaded with chopped dark chocolate and mixed in just one bowl. For a little European flair, they're chilled, rolled, and cut out, before baking in just 10 quick minutes.
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Cookies I Make When I'm Bored of Everything Else
It may go without saying, but these are not your run-of-the-mill chocolate chip cookies. Nay, these cookies are the equivalent of a sassy millennial who works in graphic design, listens to vinyl, and aggressively judges your taste in men. They’re unique and not for everyone, but that’s what makes them so iconic. And if you love hearty breads and can’t stand overly-sweet cookies, these are right up your alley.
Now, there are a lot of drop cookie variations online for rye cookies, but if you know me, I live for making rustic, elevated bakes with a European flair. So I just had to make my rye cookies based on the traditional Swedish version. They are chilled, rolled, cut out, then baked, with a buttery, tender texture similar to shortbread or my raspberry Linzer cookies.
The Not-So-Secret Ingredient for Delicious Flavor
Growing up in Germany, I at a lot of bakes with rye flour, and learned to love its refined, slightly nutty, hearty flavor. If you've got a hankering for more rye, try my 100% rye flour bread or any of my other German rye bread recipes.
And if you're a little skeptical about putting rye in your cookie dough, I promise that these taste like cookies and not like bread at all. I personally love dunking them into tea or coffee in the morning, or munching on a couple as a light yet indulgent treat pretty much any time of the day.
Let's Gather Our Ingredients
- Unsalted butter
- Granulated sugar
- Egg
- Almond extract - I love using almond extract to enhance the nutty flavor from rye, but you can swap in vanilla extract.
- All purpose flour - Helps lighten these cookies, because when I tested this recipe with only rye flour, they were gritty and heavy.
- Dark rye flour - Rye flour comes in three types, and I love using dark rye flour for maximum flavor.
- Salt - I always use non-iodized table salt or fine sea salt (not kosher salt) for the best flavor and distribution in my bakes.
- Milk
- Dark chocolate - You can also use semi-sweet chocolate for a little extra sweetness. In testing, I found that chocolate chips were too big and made rolling and cutting out the dough difficult.
Welcome to My Kitchen! Let's Bake this Recipe
For the full step-by-step directions and ingredient quantities, scroll down to the recipe card at the bottom of this post.
1. Beat the softened butter and sugar.
2. Mix in the egg and almond extract.
3. Mix in the all purpose flour, rye flour, salt, and milk.
5. Shape the dough in two discs and chill.
7. Bake until golden.
4. Gently mix in the chopped dark chocolate.
6. Roll out the dough and cut into circles.
8. Cool and enjoy!
Cookie Dough Tips
If your dough is really hard straight from the fridge, let it warm and soften just a bit for about 15 minutes at room temperature.
And I usually re-roll the same dough up to three times to get the most number of cookies out of it.
Old Fashioned Rye Chocolate Chip Cookies
Equipment
Ingredients
- 1 cup unsalted butter, softened to room temperature (2 sticks)
- ½ cup granulated sugar
- 1 large egg, at room temperature
- 1 teaspoon almond extract (or vanilla extract)
- 2 cups all purpose flour
- 1 cup dark rye flour
- ¼ teaspoon salt (use table salt or fine sea salt)
- 3 Tablespoons milk
- 4 ounces dark chocolate, finely chopped
Instructions
- In a large mixing bowl, use a hand mixer to beat the softened butter and granulated sugar until it’s creamy and fluffy.
- Add the egg and almond extract and beat again until it’s combined.
- Add the all purpose flour, rye flour, and salt and with a large spoon or silicone spatula. Add the milk and mix until it forms a thick, slightly crumbly dough.
- Gently mix in the chopped chocolate.
- Separate the dough in half and form it into two discs. Wrap each disc individually in plastic cling wrap, and chill in the fridge for at least 1 hour (or up to 3 days).
- Preheat the oven to 350°F. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper.
- Working in two batches to bake the cookies, take one dough disc out of the fridge, and unwrap it from the plastic wrap. Sprinkle a little all purpose flour on your counter and roll out the dough to ¼-inch thickness.
- Use a cookie cutter to cut your cookies into circles (or any shape you prefer). Arrange them on your lined baking sheet spread out at least ½-inch apart.
- Bake the cookies for 8-10 minutes, just until the very bottom edges start to turn golden.
- While the first batch of cookies bakes, roll out and cut circles of the other disc of dough and chill them. Bake them once the first batch of cookies comes out of the oven and your baking sheet cools for at least 10 minutes.Transfer to a cooling rack and allow to cool before enjoying!
Notes
- Chocolate: Make sure you chop your chocolate finely, to make rolling and cutting out the dough much easier. I like using quality baking chocolate, which usually comes in convenient 4-ounce bars.
- Extra Dough: With the last bit of dough after rolling and shaping all my cookies, I form it into small balls and bake them separately for a few extra minutes.
- Storing: Store cooled cookies in an airtight container at room temperature for up to one week.
Aly
I made these and turned out very nice! They are not too sweet so perfect for people who want a cookie but not be bombarded with sugar, definitely recommend!
Carissa Erzen
Thank you so much for your comment! I definitely agree, these rye cookies have the perfect balance of flavor, not too sweet.